Maynard, MA, USA: Beacon-Villager newspaper column on local history, observations on nature and recreational activities, plus an occasional health-related article. Columns from 2009-11 collected into book "MAYNARD: History and Life Outdoors." Columns from 2012-14 collected into book "Hidden History of Maynard." - David A. Mark

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Wednesday, February 25, 2015

SNOW - a Record Year for Boston

There are winters wherein February sees the first snowdrops
and crocuses of spring, but it is not this year. There are years wherein the
first returning robins are already arriving, but it is not this year. There are
years the snow blower goes untouched, the snowmobile trailered to Maine, but not this
year. This year we struggle against the white, the ever recurring, ever piling
higher snows of the winter of 2014-15. By all that you hold dear on this frozen
earth, you must shovel, women and men of Massachusetts.

WINTER 2015: Fence is six feet tall. Click on any photo to enlarge

This winter's snow totals ended with a new
record for Boston, close for Worcester. These two cities, each
with 125 years of weather data, average 44 and 64 inches, respectively. Previously, the
snowiest winter on record for both cities was 1995-96, at 107.6 and 132.9
inches. As of April 15, 2015, Boston tallied 110.6 inches and Worcester
119.7 inches, making it now Boston's snowiest winter in recorded history. Worcester finished at third snowiest. (Interestingly, 2011-12 was the 2nd least snowiest for Boston, with 9.3 inches.)

Snowfall measurement methods are described in great detail
in a 14 page document from the National Weather Service. Briefly, if snow is
falling continuously, depth in the measuring device is measured every six
hours, the device emptied and set out again. This maximizes measurement for large storms because it reduces the compression effect of late snow piling up on early snow.

One reason for the records being set this winter is that all snow is not created equal. Wet snow
means 6-8 inches convert to one inch of water, but the northeasters that have
been repeatedly sweeping through our area have been cold enough to generate
powdery snow that is averaging 17-18 inches per inch of water. Telling here is
that the thirty days of storms that put so much snow on the ground will in time
melt to only five inches of water - above average for this time of year but in no way record
setting.

Other reasons are meteorological. Weather forecasting
professionals toss about terms such as North Atlantic Oscillation, the
"Ridiculously Resilient Ridge" and Polar Vortex. The net
result was that over a short period of time the storms were colder, larger, and
every storm dumped on eastern Massachusetts,
with little melting between storms. February 2015 was Boston's second coldest on record. For the entire month, an average of 18.8 (F) and only three days had a high temperature above freezing.

ICICLE: Estimated at ten feet and 100-150 pounds

Whatever happened to global warming? The short answer is
that New England is getting wetter faster than
it is getting warmer. For Boston,
over a 120 year period the average temperature has gotten one degree (F)
warmer, but 10 percent wetter. As a result, winter is two weeks shorter, but
six of the top ten snowiest winters have occurred in the last 22 years. As storms
track up the east coast the warmer (and thus wetter) air over the ocean blows inland over/atop cold air, resulting in more snow.

At some point in the future the temperature trend will mean more winters of
wet snow, sleet, ice storms and rain. Portland,
Maine has already experienced the
crossover: weather records dating back to 1870 show two degrees of warming, a
15 percent increase in total precipitation, but a decrease in annual snowfall
from 75 to 65 inches. When it comes, the crossover will affect Boston before it impacts the inland cities
and towns.

On closer parsing of snowfall records, the less snow trend is already showing up in Boston. but intermittently. The 40 years from 1975 to present contain 7 of 10 of the snowiest winters (over 75 inches) AND 8 of 10 of the least snowiest winters (under 20 inches).

The first paragraph of this column was a riff on the "But
it is not this day" pre-battle speech in The Lord of the Rings: The Return
of the King. Other fictional pre-battle speeches to outnumbered, underdog
troops include those from movies Braveheart and Independence Day, and the
progenitor of them all, the St. Crispin's Day speech from Shakespeare's play,
Henry V. That speech gave us five repeats of "...this day..." and
also the line "We few, we happy few, we band of brothers..."

The Lord
of the Rings/The Return of the King (Lord Aragorn speaking)

Sons of
Gondor, of Rohan, my brothers!
I see in your eyes the same fear that would take the heart of me.
A day may come when the courage of Men fails,
When we forsake our friends and break all bonds of fellowship,
But it is not this day.
An hour of wolves and shattered shields when the Age of Man comes crashing down,
But it is not this day!
This day we fight!
By all that you hold dear on this good earth,
I bid you stand, Men of the West!

Henry V
(King Henry V speaking)

What's he that wishes so?
My cousin Westmoreland? No, my fair cousin;
If we are mark'd to die, we are enow
To do our country loss; and if to live,
The fewer men, the greater share of honour.
God's will! I pray thee, wish not one man more.
By Jove, I am not covetous for gold,
Nor care I who doth feed upon my cost;
It yearns me not if men my garments wear;
Such outward things dwell not in my desires.
But if it be a sin to covet honour,
I am the most offending soul alive.
No, faith, my coz, wish not a man from England.
God's peace! I would not lose so great an honour
As one man more methinks would share from me
For the best hope I have. O, do not wish one more!
Rather proclaim it, Westmoreland, through my host,
That he which hath no stomach to this fight,
Let him depart; his passport shall be made,
And crowns for convoy put into his purse;
We would not die in that man's company
That fears his fellowship to die with us.
This day is call'd the feast of Crispian.
He that outlives this day, and comes safe home,
Will stand a tip-toe when this day is nam'd,
And rouse him at the name of Crispian.
He that shall live this day, and see old age,
Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours,
And say 'To-morrow is Saint Crispian.'
Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars,
And say 'These wounds I had on Crispian's day.'
Old men forget; yet all shall be forgot,
But he'll remember, with advantages,
What feats he did that day. Then shall our names,
Familiar in his mouth as household words-
Harry the King, Bedford and Exeter,Warwick and Talbot, Salisbury and Gloucester-
Be in their flowing cups freshly rememb'red.
This story shall the good man teach his son;
And Crispin Crispian shall ne'er go by,
From this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be remembered-
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition;
And gentlemen in England now-a-bed
Shall think themselves accurs'd they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day.

1 comment:

Interestingly, look at the year after - specifically the Spring - after each ultra snowy winter event. Like in 2010/2011 winter of 81" - the following spring of 2012 was unusually warm and early, my neighbor was painting their house starting in February - not to mention the 2nd least snowfall. Again look a year later after the previous record of 1996/1997 - I don't remember the snowfall total for '97/'98 - but I do remember being at a garden party playing bocci ball in our shorts in t-shirts in deep lush green grass on March. 10th. Let's not forget the blizzard of '78, while not exactly the spring the year after, but the spring 2 years after followed an unusually mild winter with I believe the 4th least snowiest record for Boston back in 1980.